Thursday, January 29, 2009

Kirsty, Elvis and Colonel Sanders

It's hard to believe sometimes that within a few months we will be half way through the third Assembly's term. It doesn't feel like it. Perhaps that's because the coalition talks and Rhodri Morgan's illness meant that months went past after the elections before the 'One Wales' government could start on its real work.

I don't really understand why but recently a few bloggers and journalists have questioned the future of that coalition. They claim that some different coalition could come into being between now and the next election. Perhaps they're feeling nostalgia for that wondrous period of excitement and farce during the summer of 2007! To be honest I don't see why the present government should not continue. There would have to be a serious falling out or one hell of a good reason for either party to break their agreement and turn their backs on their partner.

Nonetheless some still insist that the political climate has changed with the Liberal Democrats having changed leader and with a similar change on the horizon for Labour. There are all kinds of rumours circulating (groundless I think) concerning secret meetings between Kirsty Williams and one would-be Labour leader or another.

Kirsty cut the feet from under such rumours on Tuesday. The only possible candidate she had met was Carwyn Jones, she said, and that accidentally in a KFC restaurant before a game between the Scarlets and the Ospreys. Is it possible that the future of the Welsh government could be decided over a Bargain Bucket and a Viennetta? Hardly.

Those who think Labour and the Liberal Democrats could reach some kind of deal forget an important fact. Due to Karen Sinclair's illness a red-yellow coalition's majority would be an extremely fragile one. Labour has experienced such torture before. Why on earth would a party leading a government with an overwhelming majority choose to put itself back in the situation where every vote depends on Trish Law's whims and Brian Gibbons' ability to press the right button?

From Labour's position a divorce would be painful and dangerous for whoever leads the party. Even Huw Lewis has declared publicly that the party should keep to its word and ensure that the present government serves its full term.

But what about the other partner in this marriage? It's easy enough to argue that Plaid Cymru made the wrong decision by rejecting the rainbow in 2007. If you remember Ieuan Wyn Jones justified his decision to be deputy rather than First Minister by claiming that only a deal with Labour would ensure a referendum before 2011.

Does anyone expect that to happen? I find it easier to believe that Elvis will be discovered working in a chip shop in Treorchy. Nonetheless walking out of the government would be a ruinous blow to Ieuan Wyn Jones' credibility - an admition of a lack of political savvy. As far as I know there are no plans in Plaid Cymru's ranks to change leader and as long as Ieuan Wyn Jones is in charge 'One Wales' is safe.

Kirsty Williams said on Tuesday that she intends to lead her party back into government. I can't see any way for her to do that before the 2011 election.

Posts by Vaughan Roderick are regularly translated and posted on Politics Cymru

I too am Welsh... and say the sooner these oxygen wasting tax parasites are defenestrated and the Assembly building sold for use as a brothel the better. Devil, even people in Wales don't give a toss about nonentities - why do you publish these pieces? Everything to do with Welsh "politics" is pretty much antithetical to your world view..

Rhodri Morgan is a twat and a waste of tax-payers' hard-earned cash.Let's face it, the whole Welsh assembly thing is pointless and just a sop to a few chippy rural types up in the North who've got bored of burning cottages.

Yes another Welshman here.One who has the good sense to live in Bristol though.I too am baffled by these articles.Three quarters of the Welsh population didn't even bother to vote, let alone vote for an Assembly.It would not have come into existence at all if Ron Davies had not rigged the vote in my old home town of Caerphilly.Scrap it. The last thing the world needs is another tier of fourth rate braindead politicians.

Only a guess mind, but I guess there is probably a lamp post in Bangor with a little sticker attached to it: "Reserved for Simon Dyda".

And if my guess is wrong now, it'll be right just after I next go visiting family and friends ... all of whom, without exception, would see the Assembly scrapped tomorrow, and the entire combined memberships of the Labour, Tory, Lib/Dem and Plaid parties decorating lamp posts neighbouring yours.

Wales IS better off as part of the United Kingdom. OK, fair enough - maybe governing our own internal social and cultural affairs, but that's about all.

And I'm a nationalist - a British nationalist.

Anything else and all that will happen is that what we real Welsh people call - with disdain - the "Welsh Gentry" will take over to an even greater extent than they have already. That would be a disaster. They are fucking appalling people.

I am not a fluent Welsh speaker(though my gramps was) and because of it, I get treated by Welsh speakers as a second class citizen.This is usually in the far West and North, where opposable thumbs is the next evolutionary step.I do understand quite a bit though, and have heard my fellow countrymen dissing me under their breath for being a fuckin Englishman.So when I cut back in with the homilies, they get really embarrassed, knowing that I understood what they said.Fuckin A!

Wales is a land of 3 million souls, most of which cannot speak Welsh, and indeed hail from elsewhere because of the rapid influx of peoples wanting to take advantage of what was a Klondike when Coal and iron were discovered.The culture though is wonderful. To be in Cardiff on the day of a Rugby International is to be in very heaven! If you have never experienced it,well you just dont know what I am talking about. It is like no other place.You can hear the singing all the way to Pontypridd!The vibe is great but the economics are shit.70% of the population have been sucking on the public tit since before I was born.RAB

I must agree that these posts are a waste of time. Welsh politics is just an ploy by the UK government to keep up the quality of UK politics. We have seen no Welsh windbags on the TV since 1995 or so!

Outside the Bro Cymraeg - which coincidentally happens to be within a European funding hotspot - nobody in Wales feels they are getting any benefits from the Assembly. OK, so there is free prescriptions. However, Welsh waiting lists are 44 weeks long, while England's patients only wait 18 weeks.

71% of the population work for the state - and most private sector work is funded by public sector contracts - its a communist state in all but name!

The greatest irony is that in historical terms, Wales was only a full country rules by the Welsh for 40 odd years in total (Howel Dda, Llywelyn Fawr) - It took the English to do that for the 800 years after they took the place over!